The Internet has become a new medium for finding and/or displaying information of all types, including information about products, services, and locations. The most common process through which information on the Internet (collectively referred to as “Content”) is discovered is using Internet Search Engines (“Search Engines”). Content includes but is not limited to all information, communications, media, leaders, websites, images, tags, meta tags, domain names, applications, and the like, whether displayed on or through the Internet or through other methods and media. Search Engines are typically operated by major Internet companies (“Search Companies”) that specialize or provide internet search (“Internet Search” or “Search”) as all or a portion of their content and value to internet users, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Search Companies operate Search Engines in order to present Internet users (“Internet Users”) relevant information (“Search Results”) on search engine results pages and other Internet pages. It is projected that Internet Users in the United States alone will exceed one hundred fifty million by 2007. Internet Search has created several new industries described below, yet it is still in its infancy, and, for a variety of reasons, Internet Search is arguably less effective today than it was a few years ago.
As discussed in more detail below, Search Companies face many new and daunting challenges trying to ensure that their Search Engines provide Internet Users relevant and compelling Search Results. These challenges include: a) the prolific, exponential growth in both the depth and breadth of Content, b) the rapid pace of changing Content, c) the difficulty of interpreting (or parsing) search requests (“Search Requests”) by a variety of Internet Users, d) the depth, breadth and dynamic nature of terms, keywords, phrases, and/or other search terms (“Search Terms”) used in Search Requests, e) the rapidly changing lexicography of words compounded by multiple languages, dialects, slang terms, and colloquialisms, f) the need to develop and maintain a taxonomy of Search Terms, and g) the increase in the number and complexity of Content pages that are generated dynamically instead of containing static, and more easily crawlable and/or indexable Content.
All of these challenges associated with providing relevant and optimized Search Results are magnified by the sheer vastness of the economics involved in this rapidly changing medium and the potential economic rewards of both legitimate and illegitimate use, misuse, and/or manipulation of Search Results. The vastness of the economic rewards may be illustrated by Google, which has developed a one hundred billion dollar market capitalization, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world in just a few years.
Even without the magnitude of revenues and market capitalization that may be earned by Search Companies, the incentive and temptation of enterprising companies and individuals to legitimately or illegitimately impact and manipulate search Results to their economic advantage is tremendous. First, virtually all Search Companies have devised systems whereby they share a portion of the revenues they derive from Paid Search Results (as defined below) with companies and persons (collectively “Affiliates”) who display the Paid Search Results, and these Affiliates may make millions from merely displaying the Paid Search Results on their pages that generate paid clicks, calls, and activities that trigger a charge for Paid Advertising, or other monetizable actions (collectively “Monetizable Actions”). Affiliates may make substantial sums by merely getting Internet Users to their sites and having the Internet User click-through on Paid Search Results, i.e., “click” or otherwise select Content or an active icon, e.g., on a webpage, that forwards the user directly to a website or other location (referred to herein as a “click-through”). Second, Internet commerce has become a multi-billion dollar industry where Internet traffic drives sales and revenues for Internet companies. It is extremely valuable to get a targeted or even “ready-to-buy” Internet User/buyer to a website to purchase goods and services on the website, or to be able to refer the Internet User/buyer to vendors as a qualified lead. Third, more and more non-Internet commerce is originated and transacted on, or significantly influenced by, Content found and reviewed on the Internet, whether in connection with Search Results or otherwise. Therefore, getting Internet Users to visit an enterprise's website to make Internet purchases or ultimately influence non-Internet purchases through advertising or Content on the website may be tremendously valuable.
Efforts by clever website operators and their advisors and consultants to elevate their sites and Content in Search Results and/or otherwise capitalize or exploit inefficiencies or loopholes in the current Internet Search ecosystem has and may remain an additional and significant challenge to Internet Users, advertisers, and Search Companies. All of these challenges combine to support the position that Search Results today are tremendously more voluminous, obtuse, and manipulated, which results in less accurate and usable Search Results than just a few short years ago. Furthermore, there are some inherent shortcomings in the current Internet Search ecosystem that, until resolved or mitigated, are likely to cause the problems to continue and grow, likely causing the system to become more and more inefficient and/or distorted and inhibiting or perhaps even effectively thwarting various improvements to the system.
One of the increasingly popular types of Internet Searches are local Internet searches (“Local Searches”) that are focused on finding local stores, products, and/or information near a specific location, usually near the Internet User conducting the Search. In most cases, these types of Internet Users are seeking information about where to buy products and services at stores near where the Internet Users are or are going to be. Location adds a new element to Internet Searches, and Search Companies are just now focusing on the unique nature and challenges of Local Searches.
In addition to Search Requests conducted by Internet Users through personal computers and other full-sized computer terminals (“PCs”), there has been a prolific growth in the number of Internet Users who are accessing or viewing Content (or using programs and applications that are accessing Content) from non-PC computing devices, including mobile phones, televisions, vehicle navigation systems, kiosks, lobby and elevator monitors and displays, and the like. (collectively, “Non-PC Devices”). Many of these Non-PC Devices have limited keyboard input and/or are used in cases where typing and inputting Search Requests are difficult and/or reviewing numerous Search Results is impossible or ineffective.
Over the past several years, the volume of Content available on the Internet and through other forms of media has increased exponentially due to the proliferation of low-cost digital media and its availability to the masses because of its extreme portability. Regarding the display of Content in connection with Internet Searches, several methods have been developed by Internet Search Companies to facilitate Internet Searches. These methods generally fall into two broad categories. The first type of Search Results is algorithmically derived by the application of various business or search rules that are determined by the Search Company (“Organic Search Results”). The second type of Search Results is Search Results that are based on paid, bidded, or “sponsored” links and placements (“Paid Search Results”). The inclusion and order of Paid Search Results are typically determined by Search Companies through the application of various business or Paid Search Results rules that are determined by the Search Company. These rules are typically driven by the prices bid by various Content providers desiring to have their Content associated with Paid Search Results, and over the years Search Companies have developed various rules that are variously and/or ostensibly designed to enhance the nature and quality of the Paid Search Results provided to the User and/or to maximize the revenue generated to the Search Company through the quantity and value of click-throughs to the Paid Search Results. The original goal of both of these types of searches was to deliver Internet Users relevant Content and/or hyperlinks to Internet Content, but over the years the vastness of Internet Content has made it increasingly difficult to meet this goal.
Organic Search Results are typically determined by the Search Companies analyzing Internet Content contained in the indexes they have created from crawling and spidering millions of Internet websites and Content and then providing Internet Users Search Results including websites and Content that are designed to match their Search Requests.
Most Search Engines support the use of descriptors and embedded instructions that can be used by sophisticated Internet Users to refine their Search Requests. Examples may include using Boolean terms like AND, OR, and NOT between Search Terms, and even advanced search logic, e.g. allowing an Internet User to specify the desired distance between two or more Search Terms. Such terms are referred to herein as “Search Logic Terms.”
Although there may be millions of pages of Internet Content that include particular words and phrases that are Indexed by the Search Companies, some Internet pages will have more relevant information and/or be more popular or useful than other pages. Many Search Engines use various methods of determining the order in which Organic Search Results are displayed, and it is believed in the industry that major Search Engines may consider as many as one hundred fifty different factors in ranking Organic Search Results for Internet Users. These factors, their relevant weight, and the rules associated with their use vary from Search Company to Search Company, change and evolve significantly over time, and in many cases are kept secret from Internet Users and website operators. Part of the effectiveness of these factors is their secrecy, and in fact part of the proprietary assets of Search Companies are the various rules they use to determine Organic Search Results.
When an Internet User inputs Search Terms in a Search Request to describe a desired Internet Search, Search Companies typically attempt to parse and interpret the Search Terms to provide relevant Search Results. It is common today for Internet Search Companies to merely provide Internet Users with an open box within which to type in a Search Request, although many companies provide links and menus of various levels and degrees of sophistication to make it easier, quicker, or more effective for Internet Users to indirectly find what they are looking for by submitting a Search Request related to a link or item from the menu.
Even with the use of Search Logic Terms, parsing Search Terms from an open box Search Request creates numerous difficulties because of the numerous possible interpretations of the Search Requests. Search Companies use sophisticated algorithms (“Search Algorithms”) to interpret the Search Requests, but because of the proliferation of Content and Internet Users, it has become increasingly difficult to do so effectively.
Internet Search Companies typically do not disclose the formulas and criteria by which they determine Organic Search Results, and they typically try to obscure and continuously revise and alter Search Algorithms, but Search Engine Optimization companies (“SEOs”) described below and others are very adept at efforts to improve their inclusion and ranking in Organic Search Results. Of course, the more SEOs and others attempt to alter Organic Search Results to their benefit, the more the Search Companies revise their Search Algorithms and attempt to neutralize the unjustified efforts of SEOs, which of course then causes the SEOs to adjust their techniques, resulting in a never ending cycle of action/reaction. The net result of all of this is that Organic Search Results may become distorted and are often far from optimal. Importantly, Search Companies today typically guard their Search Algorithms carefully, and to date it does not appear that Search Companies enlist the support and cooperation (formally or informally) of other parties in the initial or ongoing design, development, implementation, and modification of their Search Algorithms.
Paid Search Results are typically determined by the Search Companies by providing Internet Users with Content links, listings, and/or advertising that, while responsive to Search Requests, are primarily determined by the amounts that Advertisers are willing to pay to be included and ranked high in response to Search Requests. The amounts that Advertisers are willing to pay are often referred to and will be referred to herein as “Bids” or the “Bid Price” per Monetizable Action. Paid Search Results often appear in Search Results under the phrase “Sponsored Results,” where they are typically displayed above Organic Search Results. An advertising product and system closely related and similar to Paid Search may use a system similar to Paid Search Results for purposes of acquiring, storing, and displaying paid, bidded, or sponsored search advertising (“Paid Advertising”, and together with Paid Search Results, “Paid Search Results”).
While Paid Advertising is often displayed at or near Search Results, Paid Advertising is also often displayed directly on Internet Content separate from Search Results. Search Companies attempt to increase the value of the Paid Advertising by requiring that the Paid Advertising be related to certain categories covered by the Content with which it is displayed. Although not technically displayed as a result of an Internet Search, the system of acquiring, bidding, and delivering Paid Advertising works in a manner very similar to the systems associated with delivering Paid Search Results, and Paid Advertising is often sold and managed in systems that are intimately and seamlessly integrated with Paid Search Results and shares many of the challenges of Paid Search Results.
Paid Search Results are included, ordered and prioritized, or otherwise impacted by the payments or “Bids” placed by the Advertisers (“Bidders”) to associate their Content with certain Search Terms included in Search Requests. Payments by Advertisers for these types of advertising typically take the form of pay per click, pay per call, and other forms of pay for performance advertising (collectively referred to herein as “Pay for Performance Advertising”). In these Pay for Performance Advertising systems, Advertisers may Bid any amount that they are willing to pay to increase the ranking of their Content included and displayed in Paid Search Results. The overall results of the combination of Paid Search Results and Pay for Performance is a very robust and competitive “Pay to Play” advertising environment and Paid Search Results ecosystem that has allowed Search Companies to leverage their position and drive tremendous Paid Search Results revenues and profits in just a few years.
It is clear that a significant goal of Search Companies vis-à-vis Internet Searches in recent years has been to maximize the revenues derived from Paid Search Results. In fact, one well-known Search Company derived ninety nine percent (99%) of its revenues from Paid Search Results and Paid Advertising. Interestingly, despite the numerous factors used by Search Companies to provide relevant Organic Search Results, there is essentially one dominant factor that controls the ranking of Paid Search Results—how much money the Advertiser is willing to spend. The efforts and number of factors applied to determine and optimize Paid Search Results are extremely limited and typically focus on the amount Bid by Advertisers and the quantity and value of revenues driven by “click-throughs.” Although various Search Companies have begun various methods of adjusting their paid Search Algorithms and procedures to add other factors into the determination of Paid Search Results, the number and nature of these efforts and factors are dwarfed by the efforts and factors applied to Organic Search Results.
Search Companies may apply various Search Algorithms and metrics other than the amount Bid by a Paid Advertising Advertiser to determine the order of Paid Search Results, but it appears that oftentimes these algorithmically derived adjustments to Paid Search Results are not focused so much on delivering more relevant and meaningful responses to a Search Request, but rather are focused on maximizing the total revenues (typically the quantity of Monetizable Actions generated times the Bid Price per Monetizable Actions) derived by the Search Company, thereby further distorting and biasing the relevancy of the Search Results delivered to the Internet User. This is one of the most pervasive problems with Paid Search Results. In the short-run, Search Companies are tremendously disincented to display or rank Paid Advertising in any manner other than the order that will maximize the Search Companies revenues and income, namely, the order that will drive the most clicks at the highest prices.
Because crawling Internet Websites to assist in providing Organic Search Results may be slow and take significant time to discover, index, and include Content in Search Results, many Search Companies allow Content providers to pay to have their websites included in Organic Search Results (“Pay for Inclusion”). While not typically affecting ranking of results, Pay for Inclusion is another way that Search Companies make money from Advertisers desiring to ensure that their Content is included in Search Results.
Optimizing the exposure of websites and other Content on Search Results pages displaying Organic Search Results has created a new industry referred to as Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”), and numerous SEO companies (“SEOs”) specialize in improving the inclusion and ranking of their customers' websites in Organic Search Results. The type, nature, quality, and number of links to Content is also sometimes used to determine the ranking of Organic Search Results. Importantly, many website developers and SEOs have devised ways to impact and alter the Organic Search Results to their benefit to gain valuable Internet traffic. Many of these approaches may not provide end users with the more relevant Organic Search Results that would be derived without SEOs “gaming” the system to increase the inclusion and ranking of Content in Organic Search Results.
SEOs attempt to improve rankings for the Content by ensuring that appropriate Search Terms are embedded in the Content that are most relevant to the Search Terms used by the Search Algorithms. This is accomplished by including various terms in the Content or related web pages, but it is also accomplished by modifying or manipulating Search Terms in title pages, meta tags, headings, and even modifying the architecture, internal and external link structure, and navigation of a website and Content.
Optimizing the exposure of websites and other Content on Search Results pages and other Content displaying Paid Search Results has also created a new and significant industry referred to as Search Engine Marketing (“SEM”) and numerous SEM companies (“SEMs”) specialize in selling products and services designed to enhance the inclusion and ranking of websites and other content in Paid Search Results.
SEM has evolved into a very large industry, and while Internet Search Companies work to improve Organic Search Results, well-known companies make virtually all of their revenue selling Paid Advertising designed to enhance the Advertiser's position in Paid Search Results. Unfortunately, the ecosystem surrounding Paid Search Results is focused primarily on ranking advertisers who Bid on certain search terms or keywords, typically based solely on the amount of the Bid that the advertiser is willing pay for a click-through to the website or other action, e.g. a telephone call. It has even encouraged the development of specialized website operators known as “Arbitrageurs.” Arbitrageurs are Website Operators who Bid on keywords in an effort to get traffic to their websites, so that traffic will click on Paid Search Results displayed on the Arbitrageur's website, resulting in the Website Operator earning slightly more from the click-through than the Website Operator paid to get the traffic to its sites. The Paid Advertising model has become pervasive in today's Internet Search world, and with the proliferation of Arbitrageurs, SEMs, and innovative website developers, this Paid Advertising model in many cases may result in substantially distorted and biased Paid Search Results that are not optimal for Internet Users.
As described above, it has become increasingly difficult for Internet Users to find relevant and relevantly filtered Organic Search Results and Paid Search Results. Similarly, Paid Search Results have become increasingly biased due to these problems and the added issues and distortions that may be caused by purely, dominantly, or even partially economically driven Paid Advertising system. Thus, the current Internet Search ecosystem has become less effective for both Internet Users and Advertisers. Unfortunately, because of the nature of Paid Search and the phenomenal economic success of this system, Advertisers are essentially forced to “Pay to Play” in the Paid Advertising system in order to gain the much desired access to Internet Users through Search Results.
The tremendous increase in the number of websites and detailed information available on the Internet has caused the sheer volume of information to become so tremendous that it is becoming more and more difficult for users to find what they want through Internet Search Requests. It is not uncommon to get thousands or even millions of responses to a common search term. For example, Exhibit A in provisional application Ser. No. 60/744,804 shows a response from Mar. 13, 2006 for a Search Request including only the Search Term “Ford” on Google included one hundred forty two million (142,000,000) responses, as highlighted at “A.” If one were to spend ten seconds reviewing each response for eight hours every day nonstop, it would still take years to review each of the Search Results.
The current Internet Search paradigm for Organic Search Results may be described as “unstructured search and unstructured results,” and users are becoming more and more frustrated in their efforts to quickly request and receive precisely what they are looking for in Internet Searches. In addition, Internet Companies may be disincented to do anything to alter the Paid Advertising system because of the tremendously negative impact it would have on their business models, revenues, and their resulting market capitalizations if they fail to meet their growth expectations.
Clever Internet Website Operators, including Arbitrageurs and others whose primary business objective may be exploiting the Internet Search ecosystem for economic gain rather than developing or providing meaningful content to Internet Users, have developed various ways to increase their chances of being displayed and elevated in Search Results.
While most Search Companies have a process for determining whether or not a particular Advertiser should be allowed to Bid and purchase particular Search Terms, these systems are essentially limited to determining whether the Advertiser has some connection, however slight, to the keyword or Search Terms for which they are bidding. Thus, the Paid Advertising system is fairly open and numerous bidders can “game the system” in order to Bid on Search Terms and have their Content appear in Paid Search Results. For example, Exhibit A in provisional application Ser. No. 60/744,804 shows the inclusion of a Paid Advertisement, highlighted at “B,” found under the phrase “Sponsored Links” on the Search Results page for a plaintiff's lawyer seeking plaintiffs to sue Ford in the Paid Search Results. It is unlikely that Ford authorized the Advertiser to use the term “Ford” in its advertising, and under the Paid Advertising system, Ford Motor Company, together with all of its Authorized Brand Licensees, may be forced to Bid against this plaintiff's law firm for placement in Paid Search Results. If the Internet User is seeking to learn more about Ford automobiles or to find the closest Ford Dealer, it is unlikely that this Internet User wants to see an ad or “Sponsored Link” for such a plaintiff's lawyer, and the presence of this “link” may negatively impact the Internet User's impression of Ford.
Oftentimes Internet Users are frustrated when looking for specific brands because so many different Paid Search Results are displayed. If the Internet User searches for the Search Term “Panasonic,” they may or may not want to see “Sony” products, since there is probably a reason they used the Search Term “Panasonic” in their Search Request instead of “Sony” or a generic product description. Similarly, if the Internet User searches for “Panasonic DVRs,” again they may or may not want to see “Sony DVRs.” They may already own a Panasonic DVR and merely be looking for customer support, a copy of the owners' manual, a service or parts center, online troubleshooting or user groups, and the like. It is not fair to assume that an Internet User is looking to buy a DVR of any brand, much less a competing brand, yet given the current Internet Search ecosystem it is likely that the Internet User will be shown Paid Search Results and links to eCommerce sites trying to sell him a DVR of any type or Brand, often those of the competitor of the Brand that was included in the User Search Request. Thus, the paradox of the current search ecosystem is that an owner, licensee or other holder of a brand may spend millions over several years to build a brand, develop awareness and value associated with their brand, only to have a competitor out bid the brandholder and therefore rank its Content higher in the Paid Search Results.
Another example of the inefficient Search Results related to a Search Request is set forth on Exhibit C of provisional Ser. No. 60/744,804, which shows the first page of results for a search for “Marriott's Shadow Ridge” on Google on Apr. 9, 2006. Marriott's Shadow Ridge is a major residential condominium resort complex in Palm Desert, Calif. Note that none of the “Sponsored Links” in the right column or the first few Search Results in the left column are websites operated by Marriott's Shadow Ridge complex or any related party. Instead, all of the Sponsored Links are paid for by various travel related sites that have links to this specific resort and/or promote this specific resort to Internet Users. In many cases, these sites are Arbitrageurs that are attempting to intercept Internet Users looking for Marriott's Shadow Ridge in an effort to pull the Internet User to the Arbitrageur's website and make money on the Internet Users clicking on Paid Search Results on the Arbitrageur's site. In fact, the Arbitrageur may simply be trying to get the Internet User to the Arbitrageur's site so that the Internet User will then click on a Content link to the Marriott's Shadow Ridge website, thereby allowing the Arbitrageur to monetize the Internet User as it passes through the Arbitrageur's websites. In some cases, Internet Users pass through numerous Arbitrageur's websites as they relentlessly search for what they wanted in the first place—the website for Marriott's Shadow Ridge. Alternatively, these Website Operators may be attempting to get the Internet User to visit their website to book a reservation at Marriott's Shadow Ridge and/or another property represented by the Website Operator, or they may just be enterprising lodging Website Operators looking to capture lodging traffic.
The Paid Search Results and Organic Search Results show listings and or sponsored listings from such companies as Vacationclub.com, SellmyTimeshare.com, yahoo.com, ebay.com, hotels.com, and tripadvisor.com. The inefficiency of this system is readily apparent from the above results, and this inefficiency may be directly related to additional Paid Search costs for the Marriott's Shadow Ridge Resort because they have to Bid against others who are Bidding on Marriott's Shadow Ridge Brand. While the inefficiencies of this type of system is clear, these very inefficiencies drive substantial Paid Search revenues to major Search Companies as those companies typically earn and retain a substantial portion of the Paid Search revenues on each and every paid click that an Internet User makes in their journey to the site they were looking for all along. Thus, Search Companies may make two to five (2-5) times as much money for each Internet Users using their system than they would if the Internet User were correctly directed immediately to the Content they were initially seeking. Given the resources and success of the Search Companies, it is likely that they have the capability to build a better system, one that may more easily and efficiently direct Internet Users directly to Marriott's Shadow Ridge resort, and there are some efforts to do so, but it would appear that these efforts are ineffective and are likely to fall short.
Accordingly, systems and methods that may address the difficulties and/or flaws in these types of results and/or that may provide new and innovative ways to improve Internet Search Results would be useful.